Elizabeth Wagner, Assistant Editor of Mississippi Review
Jendi Reiter conducted this exclusive email interview with Elizabeth Wagner, assistant editor of Mississippi Review. Since 1978, this prestigious literary journal has been published by the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. Their new editor-in-chief is poet Angela Ball. The annual Mississippi Review Prize offers awards of $1,000 apiece for unpublished poetry and short fiction, with publication for the winners and finalists. The 2011 contest is accepting submissions June 1-December 1. Recent poetry winners have included Harry Waitzman, Vern Rutsala, and Theodore Worozbyt; among the fiction winners were Rachel Swearingen, Jennifer Pashley, and Kim Addonizio. MR publishes twice a year, the prizewinners' issue and a theme issue featuring solicited writers.
Elizabeth Wagner studied fiction writing at the Center for Writers in Hattiesburg, MS. This is her fourth year working for Mississippi Review.
Q: How would you describe MR's artistic mission? What makes it a must-read?
A: I don't necessary think these authors are representative, because they're all over the map, but we've published Amy Hempel, Ann Beattie, Tao Lin, John Barth, Richard Bausch, Joyce Carol Oates, Mary Ruefle, John Yau, Vern Rutsala, Rick Moody, Raymond Carver, Samuel Delany, and many, many others. This fall we are releasing our anthology issue which includes these great writers and many others who were published in the magazine during Frederick Barthelme's 33-year run as editor.
Q: How does location influence MR's style? Do you see the journal as part of a distinctively "Southern" literary tradition—and what does that mean to you?
A: No, we are a national literary magazine. We have never been about "southern" literature. Our location sets us apart in that we live just a hair away from mainstream America, but we have no particular interest in the southern. We are simply interested in the particular.
Q: How does MR's connection to academia affect the type of work you publish? Broadly speaking, do you see any aesthetic differences between the university-affiliated literary journals and the independent or grassroots ones?
A: I think university vs. independent is probably an unnecessary distinction. There are great journals of all kinds. The quality of a journal almost always depends on the quality of the people who work for it. With that said, we do try not to be "academic".
Q: How are you using online media (website, e-newsletters, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to extend the reach of the print journal? Do you intend to expand your online presence? On a related note, have you considered putting sample content from MR on the website to give potential entrants a better understanding of your tastes? Why or why not?
A: I don't know. We lost our online presence when we lost our founder and long-time editor, Frederick Barthelme, and long-time managing editor, Rie Fortenberry. Rick has a great new on-line journal, by the way: blip magazine. I don't know that we plan to have an online presence in the future. Having less university support, right now we simply do not have the staff. We sell a print journal and we hope that most people who want to be published in our journal will buy a copy and read it. That's the thing about being a writer today—literary journals are mostly read by other writers. And all we know what that means: if you want to have journals to publish in, then you have to invest in journals to read.
Q: Tell us about some of your recent winners and what made their work stand out.
A: Rachel Swearingen's story, "Felina", is full of vivid detail. It is a very odd and interesting story, but it also makes the reader care about the emotional life of its main characters. Harry Waitzman's poem "The Red Dress", is very lovely and simple. It's full of particularity and clean, powerful language. We're proud of both pieces.
Q: In your poetry and fiction submissions, are there particular techniques and topics you feel are over-represented, and conversely, are there others that you'd like to see more often?
A: Not really. We see it all and we like to see it all.
Q: What are some common ways that an entry with some potential falls short of prizewinning quality? (For instance, as a poetry judge, I often see decent poems ruined by over-explaining the "message" in the last few lines.) Please share some of your pet peeves that entrants should watch out for when revising their work before submission.
A: People who try to follow the trends never come to much good in our contest. We like genuine work, not copies of what seems to be selling that month. Also, put your name on your submission. You'd be surprised how much time we spend writing people's names.
Q: Who judges the contest? Are the judges the same from year to year, or do you have guest judges? What are the benefits and drawbacks of the system you've chosen?
A: Usually the editors judge the contest. Our system works just fine.
Q: How many submissions do you receive for each contest, how many make it to the final judges, and how many are offered publication?
A: Usually we have about 700 submissions. Perhaps 10-15 stories and 20-30 poems make it to the final judges. We usually publish them all.
Q: How will publication in MR benefit an author's career? Have any of your writers been discovered by publishers or agents because of their appearance in your journal? Share some success stories.
A: We get calls from agents a lot. They are most often interested in getting in touch with a writer we've published. It's not always the winner of the contest, either. Sometimes it's another story or poem we've included in the magazine. Larry Brown, Paul Lisicky, Fred Leebron, and many others went on to great success after publishing with Mississippi Review early in their careers. So, we have lots of success stories. Recently, Marie Bertino won a Pushcart prize for her story, "North Of." It won the MR prize in 2005.
Q: Which authors do you and the other MR contest readers particularly admire, and what can prospective entrants learn from them?
A: KEEP TYPING. Jennifer Pashley is a great example of this. She entered the contest many years in a row. She wrote and wrote and wrote, tons of wonderful stories. She sent us lots of stuff. And, of course, finally, she won the contest.
Q: If MR had a bumper sticker, what would it say?
A: Hang up and drive
Fall 2011
